the day it happened in 2005, steve bennan writing when he was a small child back in 2005, basically saw all of this coming, describing that deal, he wrote about janice rogers brown and priscilla owen as awful nominees who had been cleared for the bench saying, quote, they will soon take their lifetime positions on the federal appeals bench which is a genuine travesty. joining us now, senior editor and legal correspondent at slate. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> so you wrote -- you co-wrote a piece this evening at "slate" that headlines these rulings today as body blows to reproductive rights. why do you think these rulings are so serious? and do you think it's the end of the road or we should expect important appeals? >> i think both of these will be appealed clearly. what we're seeing in the fifth circuit, the ruling about texas is in conflict with a whole bunch of other judges who looked at this, you know, question about whether physicians had to have admitting privileges within a couple of miles. everyone else pretty much strikes it down. so now you have the fi